Li Fei opened her eyes, feeling countless fragments of the cave walls falling around her. The dense spiritual energy within Ganhua Realm had been completely absorbed by her. The walls, long saturated with spiritual energy, instantly changed. The small lake inside was no longer clear, and even the black stone platform began to peel and crumble.
But she still felt it wasn’t enough. She wanted more spiritual energy. Was every Jianmu Fruit throughout history like this?
She could sense that from the center of the Central Plains, unbroken dense spiritual energy spread out like mountain ranges, winding and meandering, all the way to the fading Eastern Sea. In the Eastern Sea waters, there were other massive, irregular spiritual energy deposits scattered about, disappearing tens of thousands of miles overseas. Where should she go next? The Eastern Sea or the center of the Central Plains?
Although her reason knew she shouldn’t be doing this now, the craving for spiritual energy after shedding her shell was uncontrollable. Such a powerful instinct made her no longer seem like a normal person who could control her actions and thoughts.
There were several spiritual energy fluctuations near Qingqiu, very familiar – Master Chongyi and the others. Had Lei Yuanxiu rescued them? She should go see them, she had many things to confess and apologize for. But she couldn’t. If she saw them, she would surely absorb all the little spiritual energy left in their bodies. Even if she saw Lei Yuanxiu, it would probably be the same.
It was better to avoid them for now.
Li Fei flew swiftly out of Ganhua Realm. This spiritual energy-rich cave, due to having its energy drained, would no longer be able to maintain its cave shape and would soon become an ordinary mountain. Another trace of her master had been erased by her.
She flew towards the center of the Central Plains. The faster she could satisfy herself, the better, otherwise she couldn’t see anyone, not knowing if she could suppress this terrifying and surging instinct.
Suddenly, the spiritual energy fluctuations of Master Chongyi and the others caught up from afar, following behind at a distance. Li Fei was startled, immediately remembering that Master Chongyi was skilled at detecting subtle spiritual energy flows. After shedding her shell, due to her overwhelming craving for spiritual energy, she couldn’t easily conceal her whereabouts and must have been discovered by them.
She couldn’t decide in her heart. The Si Horn, as if sensing its master’s hesitation, stopped in mid-air, humming uneasily.
“Li Fei!” Su Wan’s voice rang out excitedly in the distance, echoing through the mountains.
Li Fei stood dazed for a long while, finally slowly turning around, using all her willpower to stop her spiritual absorption.
In a moment, Chongyi Zhenren and the others flew in front of her. As soon as Zhaomin saw her, her eyes reddened, and she hurriedly tried to embrace her. However, Li Fei frantically backed away. Zhaomin stopped in confusion, softly saying, “Li Fei?”
The young woman sitting on the Si Horn before them had her head lowered, her silk-like long hair not tied up in a bun, but cascading down her back. She wore a white dress of a very ancient and strange style, never seen before. With her head lowered, her slender body seemed to be trembling slightly. Only when they got closer did they feel that the spiritual energy fluctuations around her were extremely intense, seemingly infinitely stronger than before?
“Master, Senior Sister, Senior Brother Deng, Su Wan. I’ve implicated you all,” her voice sounded extremely tired, each word uttered with great difficulty.
Su Wan urgently said, “This is no time for greetings! Quickly tell us what happened! I’m dying of curiosity!”
Seeing her remain silent for a long time, her lowered face looking dazed, Chongyi Zhenren also felt secretly puzzled. He gently said, “Things happened so suddenly, it’s normal not to know where to start. Li Fei, are you and Lei Xiuyuan both from overseas?”
Li Fei was silent for a very long time before finally speaking with difficulty, “I am the disciple of Immortal Qingcheng. He brought me from overseas and raised me. He has passed away now, and I plan to go overseas with Xiuyuan.”
Upon hearing this, everyone was stunned. Even Chongyi Zhenren urgently asked, “Immortal Qingcheng is your master?!”
Su Wan was even more anxious, “Then are you and Lei Xiuyuan both Yakshas? Why did Immortal Qingcheng bring you back to the Central Plains?”
Everyone asked questions one after another, but they saw Li Fei’s trembling becoming more and more violent. She suddenly turned and sped away. They hurriedly gave chase, but Chongyi Zhenren felt the surrounding spiritual energy being drawn into a huge vortex, rapidly flowing from their sides towards the front. Even the spiritual energy within his own body began to stir restlessly. He grabbed Su Wan, who was chasing at the front, and exclaimed, “Stop! This child… is she absorbing spiritual energy?”
The absorbing force grew stronger and stronger, and the spiritual energy within everyone’s bodies began to flow out uncontrollably. In great alarm, they quickly retreated several miles, landing on the ground, only then feeling the surging outflow of spiritual energy from their bodies stop. This sudden change left them bewildered, and they could only look at each other in confusion, not knowing what to do.
Su Wan trembled as she spoke, “Is this the ability of a Yaksha?”
To be able to forcibly take spiritual energy even from cultivators’ bodies was too terrifying!
“No,” Chongyi Zhenren slowly came to his senses, pondering for a moment before continuing, “Yakshas have bodies of steel and move like the wind, they don’t have such strange abilities.”
Although Li Fei had only spoken a few short sentences just now, they contained a wealth of information. That day, he and Guangwei had speculated that Immortal Qingcheng had gone overseas, but they never imagined everything would coincide like this. Master Li Fei kept mentioning turned out to be Immortal Qingcheng himself. Judging by her reaction, she must have just learned about this as well.
She was brought from overseas by Immortal Qingcheng. With such a special constitution and abilities, she wasn’t a Yaksha, but it was unknown what overseas tribe or异民 she belonged to. Given Immortal Qingcheng’s high standards, he wouldn’t have risked bringing an ordinary异民 back to the Central Plains from thousands of miles away. Li Fei must be a very precious kind.
The dense branches and leaves rustled as they were pushed aside, and everyone saw a blood-covered figure emerge. From head to toe, he was soaked in blood, with a gory wound on his chest still bleeding. He didn’t speak or move, just stared intensely ahead. Su Wan looked for a while before suddenly exclaiming in shock, “…Junior Brother Lei?!”
How did he get so badly injured? Weren’t Yakshas supposed to be very powerful? They had been searching for Li Fei in Qingqiu for several days, when did he get injured? And it was still bleeding today?
She wanted to cast a healing net, but seeing the two bloody horns on the side of his head, she stopped for some reason. Su Wan awkwardly looked back at the others, and it was clear everyone had the same thought – was the blood on him only his own, or did it include that of other immortals from Wuyue Court?
Lei Xiuyuan seemed not to have heard her words, nor noticed their subtle actions. Due to the blood covering his face, his two golden eyes appeared particularly terrifying. Moreover, he stared blankly into the distance, his gaze indescribably surprised, both greedy and frenzied, chilling to the bone.
“Junior Brother Lei?” Su Wan called out softly again.
Lei Xiuyuan casually glanced at them, suddenly speaking in a hoarse, dry voice, “Where is she?”
“What… what are you going to do?” Su Wan saw how strange he was and couldn’t help but become wary.
Before she finished speaking, Lei Xiuyuan suddenly leaped up. Though it wasn’t clear what he was stepping on, he moved faster than flying. With a few leaps across the treetops, he disappeared like lightning in the blink of an eye.
Li Fei was gritting her teeth, using all her strength to suppress the urge to go back and absorb the spiritual energy from everyone’s bodies.
The Si Horn carried her swiftly, faster than ever before, flashing like a ghost. They flashed through dozens of miles in an instant, absorbing the thin spiritual energy in the mountains like a whale swallowing water. Gradually, the spiritual energy fluctuations of the others were left too far behind to sense. Just as Li Fei was about to breathe a sigh of relief, she suddenly felt her body hit by a great force. A pair of arms like iron hoops tightly encircled her, squeezing so hard that her arm and rib bones felt like they would break. She cried out in pain, and when she focused her gaze, she saw that Lei Xiuyuan had somehow caught up with her. His entire body was soaked in blood, yet he emitted a dazzling golden light.